Dev Discussion Episode 31: 'Invasion' alert

Hello, nurse!

I'll be watching this thread for any feedback you have about the 'Invasion' alert.

The main changes from the original release:

• There is now a 'Normal' and an 'Event' version of the alert.
• Flash had other plans, but Professor Zoom stepped in to take his place.

Please post here if you have any feedback or find any issues. Let me know as much information as you think is relevant, such as which instance you popped into, who you were fighting, etc.

Thanks for playing!

The amount the adds hit is perfect, I'd say. Even as a tank, they dig into you at lower CR levels, which is a good thing. It really feels like you guys made it a big plus to bring along a troll. No troll, tough but doable. Troll, smooth as butter. Very well done.

Instance: Grundy Fight on Regular Difficulty

I don't really want to mention the word "nerf" here, so I'll just limit myself to asking a question or two.

Is it your intention that the Solomon Grundy fight feel like an actual 4-man operation or raid?

Every time that one boss comes up, I like to open up the scorecard, and there are literally always like 12+ names on the list. I've tanked it, healed and dpsed it, and the results are always the same: the group wipes at least 2 times. I explain how important it is to block and roll away if he leaps to you, do damage from a distance and stay alert. People don't catch on the first few times, but afterward they do. However, you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO HAVE 1 heal, 1 troll, 1 dps and 1 tank, or maybe 0 dps and 2 tanks, lol.

The buffs to defense, power, etc. aren't strong enough for this one boss.

Eventually, the group manages to beat him (the ones who listen and don't quit right away, lol), though it takes forever because each member has to be on point (seriously, raid quality rotating of shields, troll debuffs and everybody moving around constantly). Now, I personally enjoy it, and the groups I'm in, after they learn what to do and we finally beat it, they celebrate like crazy. However, what about the people who don't have a person who knows the Solomon Grundy raid fight? I'm not exaggerating, it's literally the same mechanics and everything, plus 1 ADDITIONAL: his starro beam that kills you in 2 seconds if no one lunges it.

So you have to avoid Grundy, stay away, dps from a distance, and all of a sudden lunge too? And a bunch of starro adds too? It feels absolutely like Demon's Plan Elite or Desecrated Cathedral Elite.

Oh, and everyone had shields on their loadout and SCs running as well.

Recommendation: Well, that depends on what level of difficultly you want with this fight. To tone it down, get rid of the starro beam mechanic. The fight already has enough mechanics. Perhaps reduce the damage slightly from his one-shot conal attack when he leaps to someone. The ground pound attack two-shots non-tanks, but it's easier to move away from.

Difficultly: Regular

All alert locations suffer from an overabundance of add groups too close together. As I stated before, the damage is absolutely fine per group (significant but not overpowered). The issue is that many of the locations have narrow doorways with two groups in very close proximity, meaning that aggroing one group almost automatically pulls the second as well. This in turn can draw even more groups.

For Star Labs, the only problem spot is right at the start. Three groups are too close together. Eliminate one group and should be fine.

For the Magic Shop, there are two main problem areas. The first room you enter (one group in center and two on sides) and the one immediately after that (all of the four or six groups in that room have a tendency to draw together in one huge mob).

For JSA, it's just an enormous, enormous, messy swarm that is extremely painful, lethal with no healer, and you will probably wipe several times even with a healer. All of the groups in the center room either need to be spaced further apart or be thinned out (two starros instead of three, for example).

Most boss fights are challenging but doable as long as people remember their quicklime. I wouldn't worry about any except Solomon Grundy, and perhaps Black Canary, but only if people let too many starros spawn in JSA.

@JackFrost
Can you check the damage output on Black Canary's Sonic Shout attack in Normal difficulty? That is the second most troublesome attack I keep running into when queuing for this alert. You can get pulled from across the room and hit for a large chunk of health. Combat log was showing 16-17k per hit for me.

It might be good to reduce the number of starros that spawn in the JSA headquarters boss, or decrease the amount of health the spores have (to keep the starros from spawning), since they seem to overwhelm the group very easily. Once spawned, they do significant damage. Facing off against Alan Scott seemed like another raid, though more because of the starros spawning rather than his attacks, since the most damaging one is a powerful field that's not too hard to avoid.

Our group started off with a healer and 3 dps; then after first wipe, healer, troll and 2 dps; and finally, tank, heal, troll and dps. If you're pushing for a 1-1-1-1 layout, that's totally fine with me, and it is doable with those roles as long as everyone knows the mechanics and does them to a point (can't ignore the starro spores, for example, or they overwhelm even the tank).

This is regular mode at CR 224, right at recommended CR.

Cyborg, Black Canary and Alan Scott are brutal.

Alan has some sort of Hammer Construct that basically melts everything in front of him while he still does other moves. And the real kicker? The whole thing is completely invisible! Cyborg has a rapid fire ground pound that kills people very quickly and it’s difficult to manuver away from him with all the starros on the floor. And if he has immunity when he does that force field move? Have fun starting the fight all over because his health is full again.

Black Canary’s been taking fighting lessons from Owlman, I see. She now has that kick flurry attack he used in the alert. And like Owlman, she’s very prone to immediately following up with another script. She’s basically Owlman, Manbat and the Judge from Earth 3 all in one nightmarish package. Those are the only disproportionately difficult ones I’ve encountered so far.

Thank goodness I’ve not run into Grundy yet. Also protect me from the backlash I’ll get for implying an alert boss might be a bit overpowered
My groups haven’t had too much trouble with the add clusters, but that might be because I’m weapons, so I’m always knocking the adds on their butts for my sparring AI precision buff

I'm not necessarily saying they're OP, just that they all require a 1-1-1-1 setup to beat. But since most alerts are marketed as come as you are, I'm not sure if that's what the devs want.

With Alan, yeah, it's better to attack him from range because of that construct move (it hits very, very hard, even tanks can't stand in it.)

With Black Canary, I agree totally, she's the whole package (in a femme fatale sense, lol). Add the starro beam with its powerful DoT and it's easy to wipe. Add some spawning starros and yeah...ugh, I hate her so much.

Cyborg is technically not that hard to beat, but group members often mess that up. His most damaging attacks can be lunged to cancel (same with his healing back). However, if anyone gave him immunity to interrupt, you can forget about that, lol. I think using the freeze console is almost mandatory for Star Labs now with the amount of starro spores everywhere.

Again, for me? Fun personally, but only if I have a full group. I'm pretty patient, and don't mind wiping and explaining things, but many people who queue in aren't like that, lol. "Healer, heal me!" "I can't! I just used all my moves and I'm out power!" "I've got like 12 starros (slight exaggeration) on me! Use your SC shield!" "I just used it 10 seconds ago!"

BillyTheGodofTanking has left the group.

I think the main problem with the Starro beam and Cyborg too, is that npcs get to keep their immunity for like half an hour. I’m not a fan of that in general, but when a boss mechanic revolves around countering, it goes from irritating to infuriating.

Please tone Black Canary down, she’s nearly impossible without a healer and/or very specialised tactics, even then you might as well flip a coin. Why in the name of sanity did you give her that Owlman move?!

Nothing wrong with Cyborg, u can counter all his annoying moves however Black Canary and Alan i have to agree, uncounterable invisible, no tell moves who can devastate whole noob groups in seconds.

If Cyborg has blue immunity, have fun watching him recover all his health Alan is fine really, just keep your distance. It would be nice for first timers if his hammer construct was visible though.

Canary is utterly unfair because if if you play keep away, she’ll just pull you in with her scream and kill you, or jump towards you with the Owlman kick, then scream and kill you. The scream is vulnerable to interrupt for a tiny split second after startup, but you’re nearly guaranteed to die trying because of the rapid fire 11k+ ticks.

yeah well if the group is **** they will fail even on Donna Troy but the boss isnt unfair.

Urgh don’t even. Had to disband because of her. It’s just, the schizophrenic difficulty in this game is just infuriating. I wish they’d just decide on a standard of difficulty and stick to it.

Hello?